Peter Keefe and Carl Macek

I'm of the generation that was introduced to anime through Voltron, Robotech, and Tranzor Z.  With the passing of Carl Macek (April 17, 2010) and Peter Keefe (May 27, 2010) I've decided to start writing about anime in general--as well as these earlier series.

Yep, it's more 30-something nostalgia.  Can't I just say this stuff gave me something to do after school and then get on with my life?  Nope--a friend of mine from those days said recently that the stories we heard in our childhood stay with us.  I agree.

I do have DVDs of the old Sunbow Transformers and GI Joe series.  That's pure nostalgia.  But when I first succumbed to the nostalgia bug and got Robotech on DVD, I realized that this series was the first time I was exposed to an overarching plot arch and character development.  That, and it being 2004 when I first rewatched it after 20 years, I realized an anti-war war story was still relevant, even if told through such devices as giant aliens and transforming robots.

Let's look at some of the main characters from Robotech.  First, the guy everyone wanted to be at recess, Rick Hunter.  When I was 8, the fact he was the hero and yet got shot down in almost every episode just totally wooshed over my head.  As did the fact that he was basically a pacifist who found himself forced into fighting a war--aaand was among the first of the main characters to look for a peaceful solution.

Contrast Rick with Lynn Kyle.  Kyle's sort of the fourth wheel in the Rick-Lisa-Minmei love triangle.  He's outwardly a pacifist--at least he's anti-military and won't let an opportunity for military-bashing to pass him by--and yet in his introductory episode he's shown to be an unparalleld martial artist.  Over the course of the series, he goes from Macross media darling to (implicitly) abusive alcoholic.

Huh.  That's sure diffferent from GI Joe's Duke ("Didn't you read my greensheet?  Man of action!") or Transformer's Megatron ("Today Cybertron, tomorrow the universe!!").

The Japanese series were obviously intended as 25-minute toy commercials just like their American counterparts, but I think many of the Japanese animators realized that compelling characters and coherent storylines made for even better advertising.  (Well, after watching some of the behind-the-scenes features ((NERD!!!)) on some of my DVDs, the conditions under which they were produced had something to do with it, too).

I wonder sometimes, if by importing these more-developed-series in the 80s, did Keefe and Macek have an influence on modern programming, animated and otherwise?  I didn't follow the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica very closely, but some aspects of it seemed awfully . . . Robotechy.